The Fraser Basin Council is pleased to offer two free educational and informative sessions to prepare you for the upcoming impacts of climate change in BC. These webinars provide training and learning opportunities for climate change adaptation planning in your community. Register today!

New Sea Level Rise Projections in British Columbia

When: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am PST

This webinar will present and discuss new projections on relative sea-level rise in BC based on the latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The projections incorporate global sea-level rise from glaciers and ice sheets, warming of the oceans, groundwater extraction, and impoundment of water in reservoirs, and include local factors such as vertical land motion and dynamic oceanographic changes. The projections of relative sea-level rise give a basis for considering future extreme water levels and associated flooding events.

With the recent flood events in Courtenay, Delta, Surrey, White Rock and other communities this past year, communities in BC are keenly aware of the risks of flooding and damage to infrastructure during extreme precipitation events. This webinar will discuss the results of a study that looked trends in Atmospheric River (aka Pineapple Express) events in BC, as well as potential actions to assist in reducing the damage and harm caused by these events. The study was carried out by the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium in partnership with the BC Climate Action Secretariat.

You will also hear about the City of Chilliwack’s experience in managing an extreme precipitation event in 2009 that led to significant flooding and damage to infrastructure in the Greendale area. Although the area was protected by river dikes, a heavy snowfall followed by a high-rainfall event led to flooding and landslides behind the dikes that damaged over 50 homes and washed out roads. Since 2009, Chilliwack has done engineering analysis to look at options to reduce the risk of such an event, and has begun to implement some of the recommendations coming out of that report.

What is ACT?

The Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT) brings leading experts from around the world together with industry, community, and government decision-makers to explore the risks posed by top-of-mind climate change issues and to identify opportunities for sustainable adaptation.